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Dr. Brenda McCaffrey
President and CEO, White Mountain Labs

Dr. Brenda McCaffrey is President and CEO of White Mountain Labs (WML), a turnkey test facility for the characterization of IC component ESD and latch-up in semiconductor components, which she founded in 1999.  As an engineer who made the very successful transition to entrepreneur, we thought our readers would be very interested to hear her story, and Dr. McCaffrey graciously agreed to be interviewed by EE HomePage.com.

Dr. McCaffrey, could you tell us a bit about your background and work experience prior to starting WML?

Thank you, Mike.  Prior to starting WML, I had worked for 11 years in the semiconductor industry for Motorola, Inc. and Brooktree Corporation.  I had returned to school full-time in 1996 to obtain a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.  During those three years at Arizona State University, I had an opportunity to put together the ideas for the business.  By the time I completed the Ph.D., I had a well developed business plan and was ready to go!

Your master's thesis was entitled "An Electromigration Characterization of a Multi-Level Metallization Process for Integrated Circuits" and your PhD thesis was "A Methodology for Reverse Modeling of Sub-Micron nMOSFET Devices for Hot-Carrier Reliability Prediction."  You've obviously been interested in IC reliability issues for a long time.  What is it about this topic that attracted you to it?

In my years as a Device Engineer at Motorola and Brooktree, I had the good fortune to be involved in what was then a cutting-edge technology - device-level reliability.  In the 90's, there was a big push to try to improve semiconductor device reliability by using clever test structures and stress methods.  This was a hot topic, and was really appealing to the device physicist.

What prompted you to pursue your PhD and how did that effort lead to the formation of WML?

My husband, John, and I had decided to relocate back to Phoenix after spending 5 years in San Diego. So, it seemed like an ideal time to go back to school full-time since the cost of living was so much less in Phoenix than San Diego. I was very excited to be accepted into the Ph.D. program at Arizona State University! After 3 years at ASU, I realized that I loved the freedom of being a student. It is very exciting to be the architect of one's own life. Once I realized this, it seemed obvious that I should start my own company. In many ways, obtaining the Ph.D. gave me the confidence and courage to do something on my own.

Tell us how you put together your business model, along with some of its key points. How did you fund creation of WML?

It took about 2 years to put together the business plan for WML.  I highly recommend a software program, Business Plan Pro.  I regularly went for long walks on South Mountain here in Phoenix, and worked out the details of what I wanted the business to do and accomplish.  Then, I performed online marketing research, called potential customers, and translated it all into revenue and cost projections.  It is amazing - if you have a chance to write it all out, it tends to develop a life of its own.  One banker told me it was the best business plan she had ever seen.  The start-up operating capital was secured through a personally guaranteed Small Business Administration (SBA) loan.

What were the key challenges you faced during your first few years of operation, and how did you deal with them?

It is interesting to think back about the first year in business and realize how far our industry has come.  The biggest problem I had in the first 3 months of business was simply to get phone service.  High speed internet was out of the question.  I spent many sleepless nights worrying about simple infrastructure.  Today, I have a laptop with a Wireless Wide Area Network card and I can check e-mail almost anywhere in the country.  Amazing progress in 7 years.  Honestly, I think this was the biggest headache the first couple of years in business - keeping the phones and computers running.

Your were nominated to the board of the Fabless Semiconductor Association for 2007.  How did you become become involved with them?

I had been involved with the FSA since my days at Brooktree in the early 90's.  Brooktree was a fables semiconductor company, so I learned about that organization from its original inception.  Part of my marketing strategy when I formed WML was to tailor my business so I served the fabless community specifically.  This is a great group of companies, with many very innovative engineers and entrepreneurs.  It has been a wonderful group to work with - and they have the best events!

WML is the first and only ESD laboratory that is ISO 17025 accredited.  What was your motivation for pursuing this, and how involved was the process?

The ISO 17025 accreditation was an amazing experience.  WML was formed to be a very high quality organization, so we were already in line with the intentions of the ISO program before we started the official process.  We did hire a top-notch consultant to perform rigorous audits of our processes and technical capabilities.  He advised us about how to put the systems together.  Ultimately, the accreditation was a big success and gave us a lot of confidence in our ability to serve our customers in the automotive and military-aerospace industries.

Most engineers are good at solving technical problems, but less so when it comes to skills associated with sales and marketing.  How did you identify potential customers and build your client base?

That is a very good question.  I would say that "necessity is the mother of invention".  When you have your own business, it is amazing how good you become at promoting it!  If you are not good at that, you probably will not stay in business very long.  But, ultimately you must deliver on your promises.  We have focused on our capabilities and systems, and relied mostly on word-of-mouth to build the business.  Last year, we performed testing for 90 companies worldwide, without hiring a sales or marketing staff.  I think that is amazing. 

Do you have any final words of wisdom for other engineers considering an entrepreneurial venture?

I have seen many great engineers step up to the edge and contemplate starting something on their own.  But they hesitate because they keep thinking that someone is going to come along and give them lots of money to start something.  Very few engineers are willing to put up their own money or go into debt to start a business.  But, why would someone invest in your idea if you won't do it yourself?  So, if you want to start a business, put your own money into it.  Don't think about losing your money - think about being successful.  If you cannot do this, then find someone else who can, and go work for them.

Dr. McCaffrey, thank you so much for your time.

About White Mountain Labs:

White Mountain Labs was founded in December 1999 by Brenda McCaffrey, Ph.D., based on the conviction that a systematic approach to highly technical, "niche" semiconductor testing could produce clear data, enabling engineers to be successful in developing innovative products. White Mountain Labs is a prototype lab system for test and characterization of Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) and Latch-up in Integrated Circuits. More than 5,000 projects have been successfully completed for more than 100 semiconductor companies in the past 7 years, including numerous customers in the UK, Europe and Israel. White Mountain Labs is an ISO17025 accredited ESD and Latch-up test facility performing testing to standards prescribed by the ESD Association, JEDEC, Mil-Std and the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC). For more information visit the company's Web site at http://www.whitemountainlabs.com.

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